Knuckle Puck - The Weight That You Buried EP

With all the “revivalist” pop-punk bands flying around these days, it’s hard to remember what we’re even upset about anymore. Obviously girls and small towns, but are we even? Aren’t most of us married and following our hearts in the dreamlands of Cincinnati, Minneapolis and probably Pittsburgh? I’m doing that thing where I start negative to talk about something I thoroughly like again (which clearly means I have not moved on at all), but what’s clear is that great pop-punk like Knuckle Puck can call up both the present and the distant past. It works because you know the feeling, even if you’re not feeling it right that second.

And on The Weight That You Buried, it’s all very relatable and cathartic. Check those all-important boxes when singer Joe Taylor strains his workmanlike vocals with, “Stop waiting for things to change / You’re the reason I felt this way in the first place” at the end of opener “Everything Must Go.” You’re transported whether you like it or not. The four songs on The Weight That You Buried struggle to differentiate themselves, but that’s just the EP format working against them. There are enough interesting bridges, like the dual vocals on “Your Back Porch” and haunting moments near the end of “Stateside” that show a band who can change it up with the best of them.

So even though it feels silly to write a buttload of words about Knuckle Puck, they are a band worth noting. I never understand how the term buzz gets thrown around in a scene of like 200 people, but this could be one of those weird instances where potential meets expectations. And with attempts at flourishes like, “My mind was a fortress you knew how to rupture / Flanking the trenches and storming my bunker,” maybe Knuckle Puck subscribe to the notion that there’s more than one way to skin a breakup song.

Rating: 7.5/10

Recommended If You Like: State Faults, The Story So Far, Stay Ahead of the Weather, other "S" bands apparently